Conor Gallagher has been criticized for allowing Raheem Sterling to take the penalty from Cole Palmer during Chelsea’s FA Cup match against Leicester City on Sunday.
Marc Cucurella scored the first goal for Chelsea, but Mauricio Pochettino’s team had the opportunity to increase their lead from the penalty spot after Abdul Fatawu fouled Sterling inside Leicester’s penalty area.
Palmer, who has successfully scored all of his penalties since joining Chelsea from Manchester City last summer, got the ball and headed towards the penalty spot.
However, Sterling started talking to his Chelsea teammate and Palmer passed the ball to the winger before walking away.
Sterling took the penalty, but his weak shot was saved by Leicester goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk.
BBC host Gary Lineker described the incident as ‘bewildering’, and former Chelsea striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink insists Gallagher should have intervened.
‘Palmer is the penalty taker, I used to be a penalty taker, at 1-0 I’m not giving that up as a penalty taker,’ Hasselbaink said.
‘It doesn’t matter if somebody is asking.
‘I think as a team as well, Gallagher, as a captain, should go to Sterling and say, ‘no, he’s the penalty taker, he’s taken five in a row, scored all five, he needs to take it, it’s 1-0, let’s secure this match first’.’
Former Premier League striker Dion Dublin added: ‘We always speak about leaders and players on the pitch have got to take charge of the situation on the pitch,
‘The captain [Gallagher] has to go, ‘Palmer, you’re taking it, that’s it, sorry, Raheem, I’ll speak to you at half time,’, that’s what’s happening, no questions, deal with the arguments later.’
Sterling then missed the target after being put through on goal but went on to provide the assist for Palmer, who tapped in from close range before the break to double Chelsea’s lead.
‘For years and years, Raheem Sterling has been in this situation and he’s not very good at them,’ Dublin said of Sterling’s missed chance.
‘When you get into those situations you’ve got to know what’s going to happen.
‘Gary, if anybody knows, you did it for years and years, on the shoulder of defenders, you know what finish you’ll use before it even gets to that position.
‘I think he’s thinking, ‘what do I do, what do I do?’, and he gets it wrong but he gets in great positions though.’
Hasselbaink added: ‘He is not good at finishing when he has time and he has to think,
‘He’s very good at finishing when it’s instinctive and quick and he doesn’t have time, and he just puts them away and he’s brilliant.
‘When you have time, as you know yourself, a lot of things are going through your head and you pick the wrong execution and that’s what he did.’
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